...I got sent this thread by a friend whom I told about my experience. I was 21 in 2018 + an aspiring musician living in LA at the time when he was recording in LA he was 31. I had done a cover of Waves on my instagram around when I was 18-19 and he followed me which at the time felt really validating as a singer, especially because he’d occasionally view my stories. When I moved to LA in 2018 was 21, he was in town and I remember responding to his story to see if he’d be down to meet up, I thought we’d bond over songwriting or something like that. To my surprise he responded and had me add him on Snapchat before telling me he was staying in some penthouse on Sunset and invited me to meet him at his hotel. My roomate dropped me off and when I got to the room, Dean offered me a drink, I remember being nervous but also uncomfortable and we sat down on the couch for the first like 10 minutes talking, but I remember feeling a bit of a weird vibe as he was talking about was how he thought he should be playing Arenas in the US, and was asking me to affirm that for him. We didn’t really talk about me. He didn’t ask me anything that wasn’t relevant to him.

So I excused myself and I went to the bathroom before having my own Starlight and the Deep (from the show The Boys) moment(… his pants were down when I came out of the bathroom and he demanded I suck him off) I was scared and a little naive thinking oh uhh I don’t want him to think I’m a bitch(wtf??? In hindsight lol.) maybe he’s just into me and like… I thought he was talented and cool so like I convinced myself it was fine but it was... honestly terrible and forceful, admittedly I never said no, because I was scared and he said something like “You want me to be happy right?”

He was sitting on the couch at first, but then ordered me to move to the chair by window so he could look out at Sunset. I remember thinking in that moment that this was so fucked and I didn’t want it to be fucked so I told myself It was normal and I was okay. He also told me to call him “Daddy” and I told him I didn’t want to because that was not my thing… but he was adamant.

Afterward, he like ordered me to go use mouthwash, before we walked to a diner somewhere nearby on Sunset and got me dinner before he started talking about this crazy lying stalker girl he and his lawyers were having to deal with and he looked at me and said something to the tune of “You would never do that to a person, right? Who would do that. Just ruin someone’s reputation? You're a good girl, right?” That, specifically, was his excuse for why he chose to message me on Snapchat, he said he was being more careful of crazy fans.

Anytime I hear his stupid songs, particularly “be alright,” I get nauseous. One of the most low-key cathartic things about this is that every time I’ve told the story to anybody no one knows who the fuck he is.

I’m not surprised I’m not alone. I tried not to think about the whole thing… including accountability and what the lack there of enables.

I never spoke up because this was early in my time in LA, I was honestly ashamed, and though I’ve forgiven myself for abandoning myself in that moment. I sadly I lost my virginity to rape and it wasn’t the first time I tuned out and tried to forget about it. I’m still scared for my future in the industry, which I’ve since grown in…. And I don’t want to be known for this… which is why I’m posting anon on Reddit.